Who's Into Saltwater?
- Thread starter Tony
- Start date
Tony
Staff member
Nope, I purcased my Tang very small, and I would say he is medium now. If he was a large tang, then I would be taking him back to the store. As for the "Tang Police", they are nothing but internet rambo's lmao. If I see my tang starting to stress or gaining weight without eating much, then I know he needs more swimming room. As of right now, he is fine.
callsign4223
Staff member
Ahhh, enough you two. Your just reminding me that I need to get in the garage and tear that stupid 120 down and rebuild it.
callsign4223
Staff member
I did have it done, just wrong.
Tony
Staff member
Just an update on the tank. Because of the lack of work that I have put into it, I have lost some things in there. The Acropora is dead as is one of my Chromis (I think I mentioned it in an earlier post). The Urchin that I have is eating my Montipora and he is going to have to go. The Tang is starting to bully the other 3 chromis and I think that is what lead to the other ones death. Algae has taken over the tank and it just looks like complete crap. Most likely, I'm going to tear the tank down and set all of the rock and everything outside and just start all over again when I'm back on my feet.
It sucks that I have put this much work, time and money into this tank just to have it looking like this and everything dying. But, it is what it is. I have other priorities that I need to attend to first and this tank has been put on the back burner.
So the saltwater endeavor ends here. This is two that I have failed at and I'm not sure if there will be a third to be perfectly honest. Starting to get a little overwhelmed with everything that I am going to have to do to get the house done. From getting all of the electrical, water and septic setup to getting the house placed, running a new driveway and so on, I"m not sure if I'm going ot have the money to do it all.
It's been fun...
It sucks that I have put this much work, time and money into this tank just to have it looking like this and everything dying. But, it is what it is. I have other priorities that I need to attend to first and this tank has been put on the back burner.
So the saltwater endeavor ends here. This is two that I have failed at and I'm not sure if there will be a third to be perfectly honest. Starting to get a little overwhelmed with everything that I am going to have to do to get the house done. From getting all of the electrical, water and septic setup to getting the house placed, running a new driveway and so on, I"m not sure if I'm going ot have the money to do it all.
It's been fun...
Tony
Staff member
Okay everyone, it's time for an update to this tank. At this time, it's still sitting in my grandma's house. And yes, there is still a LOT of algae in there. Holy crap, if I could make money with algae, I would be RICH!!! But, the reason it's growing so bad is because I have not had a way to do a water change on the tank since we moved. Well, before that actually. But I have a cure to get rid of it. And that is to starve it out.
The way you get rid of the algae is to keep the water sparkling clean. No, this will not get rid of the algae on the glass, but it will get rid of the hair algae, or cyanobacteria. And the only way that you can do this is to do regular water changes.
As I'm sure you know, I have stated that money is tight and doing water changes and all that other stuff is pretty hard to keep up with. Well, we are not going to have a mortgage payment until February so we decided to give this tank one more shot. I just finished ordering brand new filters for my Ro/Di system. The water out here just making 40 gallons has killed my 1 micron carbon block. So to help remedy this, I have ordered a second sediment filter. The first one will be 5 micron and will trap all of the big stuff BEFORE the booster pump. Then, after it comes out of the pump, it will go into a 1 micron sediment filter, adn then the 1 micron carbon > .5 micron carbon > ro > di. I'm hoping this will help keep all of the dirt that we are still pulling out of the well out of the carbon. The 1 micron carbon is stopping all of the dirt and the .5 is not seeing any of it. Here's hoping lol.
So along with a new sediment filter setup, plus new filters for the rest of it except the membranes, we should have some great water. I know my DI resin is depleted horribly and has been for a while. I have two packages of this coming so I should be able to do about 600 gallons of DI water.
Along with that, we ordered 100' of tubing so that I can plumb my house and get my water back for my coffee. This is going to be fun because it has to be run under the house lol. Yeah, fun.
We also ordered 25# of dry rock so that I can do a better aquascape on the tank. I did this so that I could make the free shipping limit lol. It will look weird having bleach white rock in my tank, but it will soon get covered by coraline algae. Just takes time.
I also ordered a 200 gallon box of salt so that I can do water changes on a regular basis. THIS is key to getting rid of the cyanobacteria. Just have to keep up with it.
I also ordered 6 filter socks since I only have one set. This will give me 3 full sets of filter socks since I run two at a time. However, I purchased the mesh socks rather than felt so that they are easier to clean. They are the same micron no matter what I get, but the felt does trap more trash. I have felt on the tank now so if I need to polish the water, I will use the ones that I have now.
I was planning on moving the tank today, but because the ro/di system clogged, my water output went down by a LOT. I still have not made my 40 gallons that I was trying to make. So, I will just let it run all night and add salt to it tomorrow and get it heated up. This weekend, the tank should be in the new house. That is the hope anyway.
As always, I will post an update when I get it in here. Might even shoot some video of setting it back up. I will try to remember to get a picture of the way the tank looks now so that I can do a comparison in about a month. I'm hoping it looks much better than it does now. I have already lost ALL snails in the tank because of the water quality. Hoping I'm getting to it before losing anything else. We will find out!
The way you get rid of the algae is to keep the water sparkling clean. No, this will not get rid of the algae on the glass, but it will get rid of the hair algae, or cyanobacteria. And the only way that you can do this is to do regular water changes.
As I'm sure you know, I have stated that money is tight and doing water changes and all that other stuff is pretty hard to keep up with. Well, we are not going to have a mortgage payment until February so we decided to give this tank one more shot. I just finished ordering brand new filters for my Ro/Di system. The water out here just making 40 gallons has killed my 1 micron carbon block. So to help remedy this, I have ordered a second sediment filter. The first one will be 5 micron and will trap all of the big stuff BEFORE the booster pump. Then, after it comes out of the pump, it will go into a 1 micron sediment filter, adn then the 1 micron carbon > .5 micron carbon > ro > di. I'm hoping this will help keep all of the dirt that we are still pulling out of the well out of the carbon. The 1 micron carbon is stopping all of the dirt and the .5 is not seeing any of it. Here's hoping lol.
So along with a new sediment filter setup, plus new filters for the rest of it except the membranes, we should have some great water. I know my DI resin is depleted horribly and has been for a while. I have two packages of this coming so I should be able to do about 600 gallons of DI water.
Along with that, we ordered 100' of tubing so that I can plumb my house and get my water back for my coffee. This is going to be fun because it has to be run under the house lol. Yeah, fun.
We also ordered 25# of dry rock so that I can do a better aquascape on the tank. I did this so that I could make the free shipping limit lol. It will look weird having bleach white rock in my tank, but it will soon get covered by coraline algae. Just takes time.
I also ordered a 200 gallon box of salt so that I can do water changes on a regular basis. THIS is key to getting rid of the cyanobacteria. Just have to keep up with it.
I also ordered 6 filter socks since I only have one set. This will give me 3 full sets of filter socks since I run two at a time. However, I purchased the mesh socks rather than felt so that they are easier to clean. They are the same micron no matter what I get, but the felt does trap more trash. I have felt on the tank now so if I need to polish the water, I will use the ones that I have now.
I was planning on moving the tank today, but because the ro/di system clogged, my water output went down by a LOT. I still have not made my 40 gallons that I was trying to make. So, I will just let it run all night and add salt to it tomorrow and get it heated up. This weekend, the tank should be in the new house. That is the hope anyway.
As always, I will post an update when I get it in here. Might even shoot some video of setting it back up. I will try to remember to get a picture of the way the tank looks now so that I can do a comparison in about a month. I'm hoping it looks much better than it does now. I have already lost ALL snails in the tank because of the water quality. Hoping I'm getting to it before losing anything else. We will find out!
Tony
Staff member
That's just it, there will never be a final product lol. But I'm hoping I can get this setup and running the way it's supposed to and hopefully frag off some corals and get a little cash back in my pocket. Even with the crap water that is in the tank, the Montipora is doing really well. Which is surprising because there can't be much calcium in that water. The Colt is not doing so hot, but hope to see it come back up when I start dosing again. The Acro is toast, it died quite a while back. The green stars and the Zoo's are doing great as well, and should spread even faster once the water is back where it should be.
It's all just going to take time. Which with a tank, I have. Really doesn't require much. Just don't tell Matt that. According to him, you have to put all of the pieces on right, silicone them together, and if you screw up, do it all over again hahahahaha. j/k bro.
It's all just going to take time. Which with a tank, I have. Really doesn't require much. Just don't tell Matt that. According to him, you have to put all of the pieces on right, silicone them together, and if you screw up, do it all over again hahahahaha. j/k bro.
Graham Lawrie
Well-Known Member
Cant wait to see the pictures
Tony
Staff member
Woke up and had to start the water again on the barrel. It's almost done, but man the pressure drop is worrying me. I need at least 65psi going into the membranes and I only have about 45. These new filters can't get here soon enough. But man this water in the barrel is crystal clear lol.
Tony
Staff member
Just received the email that the filters and rocks have been shipped. I have some salt here to get the first water change done (about 50 gallons is what I'm going to swap out when we move it), but will need the other stuff for after it's setup. Should have conformation of it being shipped later today.
callsign4223
Staff member
You know, maybe if I wouldn't buy disassembled tanks out of people's cellars it wouldn't take me so long.
callsign4223
Staff member
If the weather would ever warm up it is ready to put back together again.